Roma communities today Historical background, culture and current issues -Week 6 Class 1: Socialist era ANTH 4020/5020

Today‘s outline 1.Holocaust survivor: Mrs. Janos Rostas 2.Roma under socialist rule - finish text discussion Barany (Grant) 3.Text: Guy, Will ‘Ways of Looking at Roma: The Case of Czechoslovakia’ (4. Another case study : Hungary)

1. Oral History Personal statement of a survivor Discussion your questions together with your neighbor. After 15 minutes we‘ll discuss the answers in the plenum

2. Roma under state-socialism - concluding discussion Barany, Zoltan The East European Gypsies. Regime Change, Marginality, and Ethnopolitics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp (Ch. 4: The Roma under State-Socialism).

3. Case study: Czechoslovakia Guy, Will ‘Ways of Looking at Roma: The Case of Czechoslovakia’ in Tong, D. (ed.) Gypsies – An Interdisciplinary Reader. New York & London: Garland Publishing Inc., pp Short presentation by Chantel

Summary The attempts made to assimilate Eastern European Gypsies during the communist era had varying effects on different dimensions of Gypsy marginality. The Roma generally experienced substantial socioeconomic gains. Although still at the bottom of the ladder the Roma had improved lifestyles, and did not have to fear their security in the socialist era (p.151) Their political situation had deteriorated because they were represented largely by state controlled organizations that did not truly represent there populations. (Guy: “Decisions were made about Roma but never by them.”)

Documentary: Slovakia – The sterilisation of Roma women (2003) Discussion questions: 1.Under what circumstances do the sterilizations seem to take place? 2.How do the doctors get the women’s consent? 3.What does this (assumed) practice reveal about the Slovak medical doctors’ attitude towards the Roma? 4.What does the sterilization mean to the affected Romani women’s lives? 5.Where in the medical system do we encounter “institutional discrimination” of the Roma?